


Sun and Moon and Stars

by IAmTheHero



Series: Catharsis [2]
Category: Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bittersweet Ending, Brotherly Love, Brothers, Canonical Character Death, F/M, Gen, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Not Beta Read, Not Canon Compliant, Original Character(s), Pining, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-12
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-03-09 17:39:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27530125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IAmTheHero/pseuds/IAmTheHero
Summary: "Talk to her.""I can't.""Sure you can. She and Stormtail aren't officially together.""But everyone knows they love each other. How can I stand between that?"
Relationships: Moonflower/Sunfall (Warriors), Sunfall/Original Female Character
Series: Catharsis [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1984232
Comments: 6
Kudos: 15





	1. Sun's Wish

**ThunderClan:**

**Leader:** Pinestar - cinnamon ticked tom with green eyes

 **Deputy:** Mumblefoot - chocolate classic tabby tom with amber eyes, ragged fur, and graying muzzle

 **Medicine cat:** Goosefeather - gray spotted tabby tom with blue eyes

Apprentice, Featherpaw

**Warriors**

Windflight - spotted gray tabby tom with pale green eyes

Smallear - pale gray tom with yellow eyes and small ears

Sparrowpelt - large chocolate spotted tabby tom with amber eyes

Swiftbreeze - fawn mackerel tabby molly with yellow eyes and white markings

Stormtail - dark blue tom with blue eyes

Deerpelt - fawn molly with yellow eyes

Needleclaw - lilac and white molly with yellow eyes

Moonflower - silver-gray classic tabby molly with yellow eyes

Heronwing - white tom with yellow eyes

Poppydawn - dark ginger mackerel molly with a bush tail and amber eyes

Sunfall - ginger mackerel tabby tom with yellow eyes

**Apprentices**

Featherpaw - ginger mackerel tabby tom with green eyes and particularly long whiskers

**Queens**

None

**Kits**

Tawnykit - ginger spotted tabby tom with yellow eyes

Dapplekit - tortoiseshell and white molly with yellow eyes

Thrushkit - pale ginger tom with a white chest, paws, and green eyes

Whitekit - dark gray molly with yellow eyes, one of which is blind

Specklekit - cinnamon classic tabby molly with blue eyes

**Elders**

Weedwhisker - pale orange tom with white flecks and chewed whiskers

Larksong - tortoiseshell molly with pale green eyes

* * *

Sunfall

* * *

A warrior at last. Mother and Featherpaw pressed into me, purring loud enough to rival the thunder of a flock of monsters. Others had offered their congratulations and had since dispersed for sleep or patrols.

Sunfall. A noble name. My warrior name.

My mind was not with my family. It had since abandoned their praises. It took hold of my heart and sauntered to the other side of the clearing.

Moonflower.

In the dying light of day, the _sunfall_ , she shone with the glory of StarClan, but the night, beneath softer beams, was where her true beauty manifested. In my mind's eye, I saw her bathed in the light of her namesake. Her swirling patterns cut through gray bleached white as a river through snow.

Mouth dry, I swallowed. Something cold settled in my chest.

Mother gently licked my cheek before retiring to her nest for the night. Her glory days were behind her; days of twined tails, ginger bundles of fur squirming into her warmth for milk and comfort, running from Twolegplace to Fourtrees without struggling for breath. Her future was full of peaceful days in the elders' den to tell stories of cats long dead, buried, and faded to the little ones. She earned her rest.

Even as she padded away, stiffness in her gait, I could not tear my gaze away from the molly of my affections. Her body cuddled the larger, darker frame of Stormtail, preening under his attention. Odd. He never initiated public affection. My heart sank. Were they official?

"Can you be any more obvious?"

Featherpaw's words were a wake up call that I was staring borderline creepily at the two, so I pointedly looked away. "I have no clue what you're talking about."

He rolled his eyes so hard that his entire body was involved. "The only way you could be more obvious is if you shouted your undying love from the Great Rock. Goosefeather approves, by the way, which is quite the feat. I didn't know he approved of anything."

Embarrassment burned beneath my fur, and I hung my head. "What do I do?"

"Talk to her."

"I can't."

"Sure you can. She and Stormtail aren't officially together."

"But everyone knows they love each other. How can I stand between that?"

"Do they?"

"Look at them." I jerked my head in their direction. By now, they were on their way into the warriors' den, pelts brushing and tail tips touching. "They're inseparable."

Even so, my brother did not appear convinced. "Why Moonflower? There are plenty of eligible mollies in ThunderClan. I know Deerpelt thinks very highly of you."

Why Moonflower? "Moonflower is beautiful, inside and out. She wants a lot of kits, at least two or three litters. She is graceful and kind, but she has a sharp tongue to those who cross her. She has a lion's heart and soul."

Featherpaw nodded, thoughtful and absorbing my answer. His green eyes held a knowing gleam. "How long have you thought this?"

I shrugged and sat. My vigil was due to start at the dying throes of dusk, and traces of light still stained the sky. "Since we were kits."

"That long? Then I think you're in love."

I gave him a look. "I could've said as much."

Featherpaw spread his paws. "No. I mean _love._ Not infatuation."

It dawned on me. "Are you saying-"

"Moonflower is infatuated with Stormtail, and Stormtail with her."

I groaned. "That's helpful."

"There's still hope. It is just as easy to fall out of infatuation as it to fall into it. Be a buzzard. Hang around and wait."

I protested, "I don't want to be her friend just because she might fall for me. That . . . it's manipulative."

"Be honest with her!" His tail flicked my shoulder. "Tell her how you feel, but don't interfere. Things will work out."

"I hope you're right."

"When am I not?" Before I could bring up one of the many times he was incorrect, he pressed his paw to my mouth. "It's night now. Time for silence."

My ear twitched in irritation. I brushed my face against his in farewell.

"Goodnight, Sunfall."


	2. Moon's Hope

* * *

Moonflower

* * *

As a young kit, I always wanted to be a mother. I wanted kits, lots of them, enough to form my own Clan even. MoonClan. It had a nice ring to it, and Goosepaw would be my deputy. He looked so lonely in the medicine den; he talked to his herbs like they were actual cats. Even as I grew older and my ambitions mellowed, the same desire to nurture and raise progeny remained.

Stormtail was a noble, fine warrior, and I always had a crush on him, although Goosefeather was adamantly against him. What finer cat was there to be the father of my kits?

He wasn't even there when they were born.

Everything from my ears to my tail tip hurt, and I all wanted to do was sleep forever. Goosefeather and Featherwhisker took care of my newborn babies, two blue tabby mollies, and Poppydawn groomed my ears. Swiftbreeze took Leopardkit and Patchkit out on a walk with Adderfang; there were already enough cats in the nursery, but the one who should be been there was not. "Stormtail?"

"He'll be here soon." Poppydawn's soothing mew had a note of uncertainty hidden beneath her words. The entrance rustled, and she perked. "That's him now!"

"I'm who now?"

Sunfall.

The ginger tom squeezed past Goosefeather, both of who were on their way out anyway with the kits settled by my belly. In his jaws was a wad of moss, soaked and dripping water. "I thought Moonflower would be thirsty."

I stretched a paw out, reaching for the moss. Sunfall leaned over and set it down right by my face, allowing for easy access. While I drank, he examined my daughters. "They're beautiful. Have you named them yet?"

"No. I want Stormtail to be here, too."

Sunfall's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, subtle enough that, had I not been paying attention, I wouldn't have noticed. "He hasn't showed up yet?"

As much as I wanted to defend my mate's honor, I was also annoyed by his tardiness. What was so important that he missed the birth of his daughters? "Not yet, but he will." _I think he will._

Sunfall, thankfully, didn't push it. He was a good friend like that. It warmed my heart.

(Warmed my heart in ways that no one, not Swiftbreeze or Poppydawn, managed to do. I hadn't felt such a lightness in my chest since . . . for a long time, actually. Had Stormtail ever made me feel like that? Maybe once. What happened? I knew how Sunfall felt about me, but at the time, I rejected anything past friendship, which he took gracefully. Was that the right decision?)

"Do you at least have any ideas?"

I turned my eyes to my little babies. They had drunk their fill and now slept. One was slightly larger than the other, and she has lighter stripes than the smaller kit. "I like the names Bluekit and Shadekit," I admitted, "but Stormtail should have a say. They're his kits just as much as they are mine."

He nodded and sat to the side and instigated conversation with Poppydawn. I drank a little more before curling around my babies. Exhaustion pulled my body down, and I melted into the nest.

Harsh whispers jerked me back to consciousness. Two voices, very familiar - one deep with a slight rasp, and the other higher and lighter. My sleep-fuzzed brain barely recognized them as Stormtail and Sunfall.

"She's your mate! They're your daughters! Yet, you can't even give them the time of day!"

"I'm here now, aren't I?"

"And she's asleep now, so you might as well have stayed with Dappletail. You know, you spent more time with her when she was my _apprentice_ than _I_ did. Can you really not see the problem there?"

"Stay out of my relationships. Moonflower and Dappletail are none of your business."

"Keep this up, and I will make it my business. I won't stand by and watch you treat your mate like fox-dung." Something moved, and Sunfall's scent faded. He must've left.

Stormtail sighed, and the moss next to me shifted under his weight. I opened an eye. The two of us were alone (well, alone with our kits). "Stormtail?"

I felt him flinch against my flank. "Go to sleep. You've had a long day."

"We have to name the kits." He sniffed the smaller kit, who raised her head and squeaked. He looked awkward, and his nose scrunched. "I thought she could be Bluekit and our other daughter Shadekit."

"Those are good names." He licked my ear and rose to his paws. "I should go. I'm on the dawn patrol."

I'd learned long ago that nothing could convince Stormtail otherwise once he made up his mind. "Can you bring me fresh-kill?"

"Of course. Is there anything in particular you want?"

I waved my tail dismissively. "Anything. I'm starving."

"I'll be right back."

With him gone, I thought back to what I heard between him and Sunfall. Stormtail was with Dappletail again? While an unsurprising answer, a stone of disappointment sank in my stomach. I watched my kits, once again suckling. Did their father love them?

Did their father love me?

Poppydawn brought a mouse in for me. She said Stormtail asked her to before he retired for the night.

Sunfall visited immediately after he finished the dawn patrol. He couldn't stay long, just a brief checkup with some fresh-kill.

Stormtail didn't return until sunhigh the next day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One last chapter. I'm excited.


	3. Star Crossed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tw: fairly liberal descriptions of gore.

* * *

Sunstar

* * *

Detangling myself from Deerpelt was an adventure, to say the least. She was a very cuddly sleeper, and we often ended up with every extremity intertwined. I didn't mind, although it made things very interesting when she had a late night patrol and I was up at dawn.

As I slowly oozed from the nest, she stirred. One eye opened. "Leaving already."

"Yes, but I'll be back by sunhigh at the latest. How was the dusk patrol?"

The fawn molly stretched and yawned. Her jaw popped. "Peaceful enough. Saw some ShadowClan cats, but they stayed on their side of the border. They said something about a few dogs without a Twoleg."

I hummed. "I'll let Adderfang know." I gently nuzzled her cheek. "Be safe out there."

"I love you, sunshine." She licked my muzzle before curling up in a tight ball to get a few more minutes of precious sleep; she was not a morning cat and would squeeze every second of shut eye as possible before dawn patrols. At least she was with Adderfang and Frostblaze, two strong warriors who thrived in the early hours.

I ducked through the lichen covering the entrance of my den. Faint traces of gray streaked the otherwise black sky. A spattering of stars remained. Adderfang sat in the center of the clearing, chewing on mouse bones. "Mornin', Sunstar."

"Adderfang, keep an eye out for dogs. ShadowClan says there are a few Twolegless hounds wandering the forest."

He rolled his eyes. "Sure, but I don't think we should trust the word of ShadowClan. Sneaky fox-hearts, the lot of them."

I shrugged. While I wasn't fond of ShadowClan either, they followed the warrior code well enough, and loose dogs weren't something any Clan took lightly. "Just be careful, and if you find them, do not engage. Return to camp, and we'll send a coordinated party to drive them away."

"Okay."

The lack of any sort of fight or challenge, all in good spirits of course, was more disheartening than I anticipated. Since Swiftbreeze died, the chocolate tom had changed. Very few traces of the feisty warrior remained, now buried under a layer of intense grief and perpetual exhaustion. I sympathized with him. I went through a similar period after Moonflower died, and while each day was a struggle, I learned to live and love again, but I was never Moonflower's, nor she mine. Swiftbreeze and Adderfang grew up together, were 'paws together, and were mates far longer than I had Moonflower in my life. Perhaps some wounds never healed.

With the conversation finished, I trotted through the gorse tunnel and leapt up the ravine with the ease of practice. A strong, brisk breeze stirred up dead leaves, ruffled my pelt, and tickled my ear fur. I flattened my ears and ran in a dead sprint toward Moonflower's apple tree. It sat right on the border of Tallpines, and the fallen fruit lured much prey into the open. On my way, I collected a small bouquet of wildflowers.

The apple tree was clothed in fire and sunlight. Explosions of red, orange, and yellow bathed the leaves and covered the ground. I set the flowers down at the roots. "Good morning, Moonflower. It's been another season. Bluefur's kits will become warriors in a moon or so. I truly think you would like Oakheart. He's a fine warrior, even if he still has some fish smell.

"I don't think I will be alive to see my kits grow into warriors," I admitted. It was easier to expose my thoughts and feelings to a dead cat than anyone, including my dearest mate. Moonflower wasn't able to tell me how everything would be okay or that it was just the stress talking. Perhaps it was just the stress. Perhaps it was a premonition. "I have one life left, and something feels off about today. Did you sense this the morning before we attacked WindClan?

"There were times in my life where I didn't care about life or death, and I even welcomed the idea of going to StarClan. Ironic that now, as I'm nearly on death's door, that I want to live. I still love you, Moonflower, and I always have and will, but I love Deerpelt just as much. Maybe I took her to mate for selfish reasons, but I don't think I ever made a better choice. Longpaw and Spottedpaw are my pride and joy, and I grieve for Nutkit every day. I-"

Some poor creature shrieked, and the sound was followed by a cacophony of barks and howls. My fur bristled; it was close.

Another scream sent me sprinting full pelt. A bolt of panic flashed hot through me when I realized where the noises came from. It was close to the Thunderpath, and Adderfang's patrol was supposed to be there.

Deerpelt was there.

I ran faster.

Upon reaching the scene, my heart skipped a beat. Blood and guts laid scattered over the area and soaked into the soil. Three hounds, easily twice the size of a full grown cat with tan and white hides, filled the area. Two played tug of war with what remained of Adderfang; most of him dyed the forest floor crimson. The other lumbered to the tree Frostblaze urged Deerpelt to climb. My mate's face was gouged with horrific scratches. No sooner had Deerpelt reached the safety of a branch did teeth sink into the other molly's ear.

I sprang atop the dog's back right between its shoulder blades, sank my claws in deep, and bit its neck. It yelped and let go. "Run and get help!" With barely a glance back, she raced away, her injured ear holding on by a thin sliver of tissue.

The dog was furious and threw back its head, snapping and bucking wildly. I barely managed to hold on. We were at an impasse. All I had to do was get into a tree.

Pain exploded at the base of my tail and burned up my spine, and I reflexively lost my grip. Hound number two dragged me off its friend and tossed me around with its partners as a kits threw a moss ball. Agony strained my every nerve. Who was screaming? Me? Deerpelt? Was anyone actually screaming?

It may have gone on for moons or minutes, but at some point, I finally hit the ground and stayed there. Every nerve in my body screamed, and I couldn't see anything for the blood in my eyes. Breathing became difficult and painful, and I could barely get any air into my battered lungs. I heard yowling from nearby, and I felt as if I should recognize it.

I blinked. As if by magic, the hurts vanished as dirt in a rainfall. I saw a set of silver paws before me. "Wake up, Sunstar."

Staggering to my feet, I looked around. Deerpelt screamed for me from her position in the branches, her voice tight with pain. Cedarstar poked my body with his nose while a large party of ShadowClan and ThunderClan warriors chased the dogs away toward the Twolegplace. And in the midst of everything was Moonflower, as radiant as always. "I assume I'm dead." What else could it be?

"Unfortunately, yes." Featherwhisker ran right through her. I stepped out of his way. "I am here to lead you to StarClan."

Many moons ago, I would have jumped off a cliff to follow Moonflower, but now I hesitated. I couldn't just leave Deerpelt, even if she couldn't see me. We'd spent seasons together, had two litters together, and to abandon her for my old love, no matter how temporary . . . it didn't feel right.

Moonflower caught on to my hesitation and looked to Deerpelt, who was in the process of climbing down with Featherwhisker's help. "You want to stay with her. I understand."

"It's not-"

Her tail top brushed against my nose. Eyes soft, she nodded. "I know, and I'm not offended. Stay here. I can wait a while longer."

"Thank you."

"Thank _you_ for taking care of my kits. We will see each other again."

Our noses met in a long boop. She stepped back and jumped into the sky. I watched as her form shrunk until it all but gone, her scent overpowering that of blood and death.

_We will meet again, my dear._

I padded to Deerpelt and laid next to her. Her ear twitched. "Sunshine?"

"I'm here, love." She didn't hear me, nor did I expect her to. "Take as long as you need."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we reach the end of this story. I consider it a happy, albeit bittersweet, ending.


End file.
